Monday, May 21, 2012

The Plan: Complete the Downeast Loop

Here's the plan:  do the Downeast Loop.  What's the Downeast Loop, you ask?  It's basically circumnavigating the northeast corner of the US and Canada.  Here's the route, starting from our home port in Gloucester, Ma

  • Head down the coast to NYC
  • Go up the Hudson river to just north of Albany, NY
  • Enter the Erie Canal and head west to around Syracuse, NY which is about the mid point of the Erie.  If you continue west it takes you parallel to Lake Ontario all the way to Lake Erie, but we will exit at the mid point into the Oswego Canal.
  • Follow the Oswego canal north to the southeast corner of Lake Ontario.
  • Cross Ontario to its northeast corner to the Thousand Islands Region which is the headwaters of the St Lawrence River.  At this point we enter Canada.
  • But rather than heading right out the St Lawrence, we will continue north into the Rideau Canal system which is actually a series of lakes, rivers, and canals that run all the way to Ottawa.
  • In Ottawa we will pick up the Ottawa River and follow it southeast until it rejoins the St Lawrence at Montreal.
  • Then down the St Lawrence to Quebec City, and onward to the St Lawrence Gulf
  • Prince Edward Island comes next, followed by Cape Breton Island, Bras d'Or Lake, then down the coast of Nova Scotia.
  • At the end of Nova Scotia, we'll head across the Bay of Fundy and re-enter the US in northern Maine.
  • Then down the coast of Maine and back home to Gloucester.
Stay tuned to see if we make it....

4 comments:

  1. Wow Guys .. Dave sent me the link on Friday .. now my first internet look every morning is following your adventures. May you have calm seas and great sights !!

    Bernie Haney
    New Jersey

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  2. Hi Peter. Do you remember what is the defining air draft for the downeast loop?

    Thanks,
    Kristina N5708

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  3. It's 21' if you take the Erie Canal west to Three Rivers, then the Oswego Canal north to Lake Ontario. That's the route we took. If you go up the Champlain Canal through Lake Champlain, it's 17', and that requires calling ahead to get the pool lowered, but they regularly do it. Most Nordhavns with a dry stack are going to be too tall, but with wet exhaust and no stacks, you might be able to lower your masts and antennas to fit through.

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  4. Peter, I am a fellow Essex county inhabitant planning the Downeast this summer. Do you have any charts you want to sell?

    J. Blanchard
    M/V Firebird
    jbwan@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete

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